Lost in Silicon Valley
by Parvin M.
My first visit to the U.S. was in 1985. I came to visit my children. My daughter had just graduated from the university and had taken her first job as a computer programmer in General Electric Co.
Computers were almost a new technology in my country Iran in that time. Only offices, airlines, and universities had computers, but not people.
I was very excited to go to visit everywhere, and was excited to see where my daughter was working. So she took me to where her office was and showed me the location. After a few months of being in the U.S., she asked me if I would like to go to her office on her lunch hour to see the mall nearby her work place and also have lunch together. “Interesting idea,” I said.
The next day, I drove toward her office in San Jose using Freeway 101. I knew what exit I should take. After about twenty minutes of driving and still not seeing the exit that I was supposed to take, I thought to myself, “I must have passed the exit.” So I decided go back a few exits to be sure I didn’t pass it.
I turned on the next exit, hoping to make a
U-turn but instead I entered onto a new highway. Now I was really lost. “What should I do now?,” I asked myself. After driving for a while, I saw a sign for food and gas. I took the exit and saw a public telephone next to a supermarket (in those days there weren’t cellphones). I called my daughter and told her that I was lost. “Okay, I’ll come and get you. Where are you?” She asked.
“I don’t know,” I replied. She laughed and said, “Okay Mom, have a good day. Enjoy yourself!”
Just at that moment, a man came out of the supermarket. I asked him to help me by talking to my daughter on the phone. He
told my daughter where I was so she could find me.
We didn’t stick to our lunch plan, but we made fun of it and laughed about it several times over the years.